Breakfast at Midnight
by Jake Nickleby
Summary: College student Dipper Pines returns to his apartment from his night class late, greeted by his roommate's cooking, but that's not the only thing that Dipper wants cooked up. Too bad he doesn't have the guts to say what he wants. That is, until his twin sister tries to push him to speak his mind.


Disclaimer: All characters, events, and material related to _The Guardians of Childhood_ and _Rise of the Guardians_ are owned by William Joyce and DreamWorks Animation. All characters, events, and material related to _Gravity Falls_ are owned by Alex Hirsch and Disney Channel.

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Cover Art by Jake Nickleby. Currently looking for art or color commissions.

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Breakfast at Midnight

Dipper Pines stumbled into the apartment, shivering slightly as his body adjusted to the change of temperature. Not that it was very cold outside, but the town always seemed to cool off fast after nightfall. His night class ran long tonight, and he skipped the ten-minute break in between the hours. His stomach was growling painfully by the time he was walking up the stairs leading to the place he now called home.

He was welcomed by the sound of cooking oil splattering against a frying pan on the stove. Jamie was probably preparing a midnight snack. Whatever his roommate was cooking, it smelled wonderful. His stomach rumbled louder.

"Hey!" Jamie greeted from the kitchen, unseen from around the corner. "I'm making some eggs on toast. Want some?"

"Yes!" Dipper squeaked as he tried to suppress another stomach grumble. "I-I mean, yes please!"

He heard Jamie laugh, which always made him smile. The younger teen had a very youthful quality to his infectious laugh. "You got it, Dipping Sauce!"

Another reason to make Dipper smile. Jamie was the only person other than his own sister to call him by that nickname. The warmth and playfulness of the name made him feel like he still had family while he was away from his hometown in California. As much as he didn't want to admit it, because he was afraid of looking less manly, Dipper became really homesick during his first year of college. That changed when Jamie moved in.

When the fall semester came around the corner, and the new school year was soon beginning, Dipper knew he would be notified by prospective roommates. Only one person applied and responded to his follow-up message. They met at a local coffee shop for the interview, and after their meeting, Dipper never bothered to look at another application. He found his new roommate.

Jamie Bennett was an incoming freshman, only fourteen months younger than Dipper himself, from a small Pennsylvania town known as Burgess. He lived there with his single mother, and ten-year-old sister named Sophie, and left for college to study in English Writing, with a minor in Mythology. His best and favorite subject in school was science (and almost chose it for his major before ultimately deciding to pursue writing), was great at creating projects with materials he had on hand, and his favorite season was winter.

Over the next six months, Jamie had become Dipper's confidant. He had a very open and sensitive soul, never judging the older teen for his occasional show of vulnerability. Dipper learned that his emotions didn't make him any less than a man. That bit of advice made Dipper feel better about himself, but over time he slowly realized that he felt something else.

Throughout his whole life, Dipper was so convinced that he was into girls. He was so hung up on Wendy Corduroy for half his life (well, okay, six years wasn't exactly half), but he was on his own for that entire first year of college. He felt isolated from _everybody_. He was sealed off his friends and family, not just potential girlfriend material. Though the time alone gave him some time to reflect on himself.

There was something about Jamie that made him feel different. It made him feel safe and warm and _happy_. This wasn't like the time when he sort-of had his "first" kiss with his twin sister's merman boyfriend. Admittedly, Dipper was immature for his twelve-year-old self, despite how he tried so hard to prove to everyone that he _was_ mature. Now that he was eighteen, he didn't cringe at the thought of trying something new. Not with Jamie.

February only just began, but Dipper was hopeful. He remembered February last year was absolutely dismal for him, having a particularly bad day on Valentine's Day (which had nothing to do with the holiday; it just so happened to have been on that day). With old crushes forgotten, and new discoveries awaiting, Dipper wanted this February to be memorable. Though unlike last February, he wanted it to be memorable for good reasons. Ones that overshadowed the bad from the past year.

Dipper shrugged off his backpack and jacket, dumping it on one side of the couch. Pulling out his cell phone as he walked over to the currently vacant dining table, he sat down on the nearest chair and checked his missed text messages. It was vibrating like crazy while he was on his way back to the apartment.

There were several unread messages, most of them (okay, _all_) from his sister, whose contact number was under the name, "Lady Mabelton". He decided to check the four most recent.

_Did you ask him yet?_

Dipper ignored her question, and skipped to the next message.

_ Dipper?_

Ignore, next.

_Dipper..._

He let out a sigh. She was getting impatient, he could tell, and now he dreaded what the next message would say. Press next.

_DIPPER, WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER ANY OF MY MESSAGES?_

Jamie came over to the dining table with two plates in his hands, smiling at his friend as he set one plate down in front of Dipper. He put the other on the place setting on the opposite end, and sat down in the empty chair across from the older male.

"Are you texting Mabel?" Jamie wondered, starting to dig into his own egg and toast.

"Yeah..." Dipper answered, his eyes never leaving the phone's screen.

"What'd she say?" Jamie asked curiously.

"Uh, nothing!" Dipper answered quickly, hiding his phone underneath the table. He sent his twin a simple reply before setting his phone beside his plate.

_I'll ask him tomorrow._

Everything looked and smelled so delicious. He had no idea how Jamie did it. It was just a fried egg on buttered, whole wheat toast. The way he seasoned it with just the right amount of salt and pepper made it absolutely appetizing. It was one of Jamie's qualities that Dipper admired the most, his self-sufficiency. Dipper was a terrible cook, and very lazy. Without Jamie, he would probably either eat instant noodles for the rest of his life or starve.

"Thanks, man," Dipper said with a smile, finishing off a bite of the crust. He paused to wipe away the grease at the corners of his mouth with a cloth napkin.

Jamie returned the smile. "Anytime."

They sat in silence for a few minutes as they ate their meal, then Dipper suddenly stopped chewing. "You didn't stay up late for me, did you?"

The serious look on his face didn't phase Jamie at all, and offered Dipper yet another small smile. "No, I was up anyway."

"But don't you have to get up early?" Dipper asked, his eyebrows subtly turned upward in concern.

Jamie lightly shook his head. "Not tomorrow, no. I've got the day off."

Dipper wiped his sweaty palm on his jeans. Mabel laughed at him when he told her what he wanted to ask Jamie, that he should just talk to him like a normal person. He ignored his sister's advice. There weren't any clones to get in the way, and Jamie wasn't like Wendy. His twenty-step plan might work.

The digital clock on Dipper's phone flashed from 11:59 P.M. to 12:00 A.M. in a blink of an eye, and soon after he received a new message from the legendary Lady Mabelton:

_It's tomorrow_.

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End of _Breakfast at Midnight_

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Author's Note: _Breakfast at Midnight_ was originally written on February 3rd 2014. This was meant to be 150 to 350 words long, and I ended up with 1,235 words.

The idea and execution of this story happened within a day, with a good portion of this being written when I had some downtime at work (which is rare and precious). This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is a _huge_ deal to me. I have been writing Pinennett stories for over a year, and I've only got one story, "Something Worth Telling" currently posted on my account (I have at least ten other stories planned).

It's a little disappointing that I haven't completed the first Pinennett oneshot I wanted to post ("A Friend is a Friend"), but I was getting frustrated with everything that's been happening in my personal life, and I was inspired by _sisaat_, who effortlessly writes beautiful HiJack drabbles. So I wanted to use this month to stop forcing myself to write something when I'm overly tired, and write something that's more fun and easy.

I'm hoping that some of these exercises will rejuvenate my joy of writing my other stories. These stories are very much still active! In the meantime, I wanted to give you a little Valentine's treat while you're waiting.

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9 February 2014


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